When "The DC Universe will never be the same again" phrase did hold true?

[Vision]

Its the major selling point of almost every event or even arc/storyline. So, when did this actually became true?


The one I remember the most is proly Emerald Twilight. Still not clear after what retcons what really happened but with that it introduced Kyle Rayner. No more yellow weakness/impurity. New uses of the ring. Resurrection of the Corps, etc. most of that still in continuity. Death of Superman and Knightfall didnt even came close to that. And the Crisis/rebirths keep rebooting everything to the same status quo so almost nothing ever changes.

Then there are things like Death in the Family/Jasson Todd back from the death. Tedd Kord murder/new Blue Beetle but I dont know what is canon or not. Do I even want to mention Barry Allen/Wally West?

And I guess it could also apply to things like (for better or worse) the sexification of Harley Quinn but im not aware how/when this happened, since I dont read batman much. The DC wasnt the same again after that thats for sure.

[colonyofcells]

COIE and New 52 changed the dc universe a lot (batman and green lantern were affected less). Every month, the dc universe changes little by little. Every day I wake up, I am also a little bit different.

[Vision]

COIE and New 52 changed the dc universe a lot (batman and green lantern were affected less). Every month, the dc universe changes little by little. Every day I wake up, I am also a little bit different.

I was talking about the status quo. I thought I was obvius.

Cyborg on the JL would be an example.

[colonyofcells]

After coie, superman had both parents alive which never happened before since 1938. Guy Gardner sort of became active around the time of coie. Wally became the main Flash for the next few decades.
New 52 got rid of the Lois and Clark relationship which had been around since 1938. New 52 also managed to get rid of old Wally for many years.
Lots of events were used to introduce new characters : Legends introduced the Suicide Squad, Invasion introduced the vril dox legion, etc.

[Vision]

After coie, superman had both parents alive which never happened before since 1938. Guy Gardner sort of became active around the time of coie. Wally became the main Flash for the next few decades.
New 52 got rid of the Lois and Clark relationship which had been around since 1938. New 52 also managed to get rid of old Wally for many years.
Lots of events were used to introduce new characters : Legends introduced the Suicide Squad, Invasion introduced the vril dox legion, etc.

Ok im not aware of most of that but did it change for good or changed for a while and then changed to the way it was before?

[colonyofcells]

Of the changes I mentioned, Guy Gardner and Suicide Squad are still around. Coie introduced the charlton heroes and Blue Beetle and Captain Atom are still part of Rebirth. Clutter earth 0 started post coie and Rebirth still has clutter earth 0. New 52 expanded clutter earth 0 which now also includes Wildstorm and maybe also more vertigo history. Clutter earth 0 is what is allowing captain marvel to be in the justice league, Ray to be in the justice league, etc. Pre coie, captain marvel was on earth S and Ray was on earth X so they were never a part of the pre coie justice league.

[bat39]

Well honestly, the phrase has never really held true permanently because eventually the DCU always snaps back to a kind of 'default' that is associated with 'classic' continuity, while incorporating some of the changes of later eras.

In some sense, that 'default' tends to be DC circa the 60's and 70's. After all the changes of the 80's and 90's, the 2000's and 2010's were about undoing those changes and returning to that 'classic' status quo of the Silver Age and Bronze Age. Hal, Barry and Oliver all returned from the dead. Superman became increasingly like how he was in the Silver Age and Bronze Age (with the New 52 restoring him to more or less that status quo outright). The Multiverse being back and the JSA being on Earth 2. And so on...

Some stuff from later eras always sticks. Batman for instance. And now, the new default 'classic' setting for Superman seems to be the 90's and 2000's more than anything else, but even there there's forward movement with Jon. Cyborg as a JL member seems to be sticking.

So yes, the DCU never really changes permanently in a broad sense, but it will never be quiet the same in the sense that nothing in life is frozen in amber.

[colonyofcells]

dc changes tend to be in cycles : drastic changes, back to classic, drastic changes, back to classic, etc. We are now in the back to classic period which started with the return of Hal Jordan and Barry Allen before Flashpoint. Rebirth is continuing the current back to classic period altho there are some changes : Superman now has a kid which first happened in the movie Superman Returns, more people added to the Batman family, we now have the New 52 Wally West which was probably the influence of the cw flash tv show, new ethnic Lanterns Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, etc.

[jbmasta]

In Green Lantern during the Lights Out storyline in 2013 the planet Oa was destroyed, something that hasn't been undone yet.

Issue 20, Geoff John's final issue of Green Lantern, the Guardians of the Universe except for Ganthet and Sayd are killed. While another set of Guardians, the Templar Guardians did make appearances after this, it's literally only just recently that Ganthet and Sayd have appeared again*.

*I'm not counting any potential appearances in the Larfleeze title, which I haven't read.

[t hedge coke]

No change is going to "hold true," but things come back around more often than we probably realize. Gotta keep filling issues. Even when a change sticks around in one continuity, there's probably something else out during that same time that reverts it or does it a different way with the same planet, character, what have you. Or, you have flashback stories (this comic is set in the continuity of 1989).

[Lee Stone]

On the universal level: COIE.
Simply because we've been bombarded with cataclysmic universe shattering events ever since.

More personal status quo stuff:
Swamp Thing being a plant that thought it was a man.
Superman able to fly, instead of just leaping tall buildings.